Van Kleiss
Can drain nanites from E.V.O.s Can create E.V.O.s Can fire sharp needles from his bio-mechanical hand |gender = Male |hair color = Black with gray streaks |portrayed by: = Troy Baker |eye color = Dark red |weapons = Bio-mechanical arm which he can lengthen at will}} Van Kleiss is the leader of the Pack and Abysus. He wants to take over the world and start a new era for E.V.O.-kind. To help him accomplish this, he has formed a dangerous group of E.V.O.s called the Pack. He claims to know all about Rex and his past, a fact he often uses to try to persuade Rex to join his cause. History Background Van Kleiss was a scientist who was doing nanite research with Dr. Gabriel Rylander 1.09, "Dark Passage". When the Nanite Event occurred five years ago, Van Kleiss was in close proximity to the blast. Afterward, Kleiss presumably discovered that he was gifted with the ability to control abysus, infused with the nanites from the blast. However, Van Kleiss' nanites are not stable, and he requires a constant supply of active nanites to maintain his form. Seasons 1-2 : Main article: History of Van Kleiss Personality Van Kleiss is cunning, clever, can be manipulative and seizing opportunities to further his plans. He often tries to get anything that he could use to his advantage. He is cold and ruthless when it comes to what he wants, it is evident that if one does not comply with Van Kleiss' orders that he'll kill them by draining their nanites for nourishment and put their petrified bodies in his "garden". 1.01, "The Day That Everything Changed" Van Kleiss talks in a polite manner most of the time, even during battle or taunting his opponents. He will not hesitate to kill Pack members if they make him angry enough, seeing them merely as a means to an end. He has a bit of a humorous side to him shown in Leader of the Pack during his battle with Rex, where he stopped in mid-battle just to ask Rex why was he "taking out his frustrations on a wall". However, Van Kleiss' polite attitude is just a way to hide the darker side of his personality, and he it has been able to trick many people at first (including Rex, Bobo, Noah, and the U.N. delegates) before seeing his malevolent nature. He is shown to be an apt planner, secretly putting his nanite infused soil under the city to make himself as powerful as he is in Abysus as he attempts to take over the UN. He keeps a level head nearly all of the time, even in a situation when the odds are against him. 1.07, "Leader of the Pack" He has a strong dislike toward Providence. He stated he does not like them meddling with his plans, however shows a polite attitude toward Dr.Holiday when she tries to keep Rex from starting a fight. Also, he does not like the fact that people see Providence as "saviors", while Van Kleiss sees himself as the true "savior". In the episode "Leader of the Pack", he purposely did not announce his arrival in New York City or about his diplomatic immunity, so that Providence would attack him and his henchmen, just for the purpose of humiliating them. Physical Appearance Van Kleiss is a tall, broad, middle-aged man that is always clad in dark clothes and boots. His face is long and drawn under the eyes, which are a dark red. He has long black hair with white-grayish streaks on the left and right ends of his bangs. Before he was cured by Rex, his clothing seemed to be a part of him as it regrew whenever he resurrected himself. He has several mechanical parts from his right arm to his chest. The most notable is his large golden, bio-mechanical hand that he uses to drain nanites from other E.V.O.s. The tips of the fingers end in large, blunt pins; only when he's about to feed do the pins extend into needles. The other inorganic parts of him are a large circular yellow hole in his chest that is linked to a large metal collar and possibly down to his right hand. After being cured, Van Kleiss's mechanical hand was fully restored to a normal hand 1.15, "What Lies Beneath". Although not shown, at some point he must have later created an upgraded version of his bio-mechanical hand 1.21, "Payback". In "Leader of the Pack" he was shown with a black suit, and his hair slicked back during a formal event. Powers and Abilities Formerly In his homeland of Abysus he was very powerful, close to omnipotence. He was able to manipulate the whole environment and summon strong roots, vines, and creepers that could grab, hold up things, and aid his movement at will. He could even make it rain at just one spot. He can do all this, as the whole land was seeded with his own nanites. He could also form the roots out of his body and use them as makeshift offensive weapons. While in Abysus, he seemed to be immortal and could regenerate himself no matter how great the wound. He was so strong in Abysus that his enemies would not dare attack him there. Providence once sent an army to save Rex in Abysus, but in the end they were all wiped-out with ease. Six was the only survivor of the rescue team. Though more of a survival mechanism than a power, Van Kleiss could also use his bio-mechanical hand to drain the nanites out of other E.V.O.s, resulting in the E.V.O. being petrified and turned into a stone statue. It's shown later that the E.V.O.s that have been turned to stone are actually alive in their petrified state, some even able to break free with concentration, and are turned to stone again when their concentration is broken. 2.17, "Grounded" On trips out of Abysus, he was seen transporting nanite-infused soil with him. It was shown that he would die without his nanite-infused soil, or at least be severely weakened. Van Kleiss is shown to control an army of E.V.O.s under his command. His most strongest and most powerful and elite E.V.O.s are formed into a group known as "the Pack". It is currently unknown how he is able to control the less intelligent E.V.O.s, while more intelligent ones could have been "persuaded" to join his cause. His body also acted as an organic stabilizer for the highly unstable nanites in Abysus. Dr Holiday theorized that he was bonded to them at the molecular level and as a result Rex killing him made them more unstable. Indeed without him the nanites turned vicious and began to eat Abysus from the inside out and became roving swarms of black goo. Currently After being cured by Rex, Van Kleiss lost all of his original powers as an E.V.O., but claimed he still had his greatest strength: his intellect. When he reappeared later, rather than his hand, his entire arm was bio-mechanical. It has the ability to stretch out, though the limitations of this are unknown. It also possesses superhuman strength as it is able to lift Agent Six during their brief battle in "Payback", and easily punch through solid rock. In "Rampage" he demonstrated the capability to fire a multitude of sharp-edged gold-colored projectiles from his bio-mechanical arm at incredible speeds. His hand also stretches some 10-30 feet, and he can turn a lake of water into a solid chunk of compressed, frozen block of land, as seen in "Alliance". After absorbing all of Rex's active nanites (excluding the Omega-1 Nanite) Van Kleiss gained the ability to create E.V.O.s. These E.V.O.s are marked with a bright golden-colored handprint where he grabbed them, in addition to this the E.V.O.s he creates are highly unstable and if not cured in time will become incurable. He is also incredibly agile. It seems that he still needs to feed off of E.V.O.s as he stated that he still needs nanites to survive 2.12, "Written in Sand". Relationships Biowulf Biowulf is the second in command of the Pack and is leader of all the missions outside Abysus, seeing as Van Kleiss is limited to his home. Biowulf is very loyal to Van Kleiss. However, he is showing signs of tiring of Biowulf's continued failures and thus has begun drifting away from him. Rex classifies him as "not a normal lap dog". Breach Breach is a very useful asset to the Pack given her special abilities and powers. The only reason why Van Kleiss wants her with him at all times and not the others is that he can easily escape through her portals if needed. However, the nature of her powers still allow her to rescue the Pack if necessary. Circe She had evidently tried to join the Pack on her own. Her apparent use to Van Kleiss is that Rex wants to be closer to her. In Hard Target is revealed, by Breach, that Van Kleiss didn't take betrayal lightly. Breach told Circe that Van Kleiss had been looking forward to "chatting with her", obviously wanted to punish Circe for betraying him. Jungle Cat E.V.O. An E.V.O. who showed promise, but after he accidentally destroyed Van Kleiss' nanite dirt suit in "Dark Passage." He is then petrified by Van Kleiss who drained nanites and which turned him to stone. Then his stone form is knocked to the ground by Biowulf. Rex Salazar Van Kleiss' true relationship with Rex is unknown as of now. He claims to know about Rex's past and his family but will only reveal this if Rex willingly joins him. They have already fought each other several times and Rex is determined to take Van Kleiss down. He also claims that Rex is very important to him, for what reason though remains a mystery. Although Rex is significant, he notes that he will eliminate Rex if he keeps getting in his way. The two have been shown ready to kill each other, but so far they have been interrupted each time. It seems that Rex is not his main target, but could be a primary target, since he stated to Rex that "it is not always about you." In Payback, Van Kleiss took Rex's nanites and has been able to make people into E.V.O.s since then. He did not seem to care what would happen to Rex after that, as he let Biowulf throw him out of the plane, though he regained interest when Rex got back his powers. In episode Alliance, it is revealed that while he does indeed want Rex alive he is only interested in his body abilities, not his mind. In Written in Sand, both Van Kleiss and Rex were trapped in a sandstorm. They formed a temporary truce and during that time, they bonded by sharing information: Van Kleiss wanting to know about the Omega-1, which he already knew was inside Rex, and Rex about his past. Gabriel Rylander They evidently worked together on research for the Nanite Project five years ago. They came face to face again where he stopped Rylander from telling Rex the information about his family by stabbing him with the needles on his bio-mechanical hand. Van Kleiss said that Rylander knew nothing of truth, or loyalty and that he will continue the research on his own. Rylander saved Rex from further harm when he was down by knocking both himself and Van Kleiss into the unstable Nanite Reactor, disintegrating them both. Rylander is assumed to be dead, while Van Kleiss was able to be revived in What Lies Beneath. Caesar Salazar Van Kleiss is shown to be greatly displeased by Caesar's unexpected return. The feeling is more likely mutual as Caesar called him a "third-rate lab hack" 2.07, "Mixed Signals". In episode thirty-three "Written in Sand", Van Kleiss reveals that Caesar himself is the one responsible for the release of incomplete nanites that roam free into the atmosphere five years ago. He proves this statement by giving a disbelieving Rex a warning about Caesar, saying that he is not to be trusted and that he is not who Rex believes him to be. Appearances Trivia * It was noted by Six that Providence knew about Van Kleiss and the Pack before Rex joined Providence. However, the Pack had never caused any problems up until the start of the series. * Van Kleiss is the first character in the series to be seen bleeding. * Despite losing his previous original powers, he claimed that he has retained his nanite hunger. * In Van Kleiss is revealed to know that Rex has the Omega-1 Nanite; he also learned about Rex's new machines while they were talking. It would seem that he knew Rex's parents very well, enough to say that Rex takes after his mother, Violeta. * On 14 September 2011 the unstable nano in Fusionfall has transformed in Van Kleiss References Category:Characters Category:E.V.O.s Category:Human E.V.O.s Category:The Pack Category:Males Category:Scientists Category:Nanite Event Category:Van Kleiss